Wilmslow High reach quarter finals of Daily Mail Cup

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Woodhouse Grove 3 – 15 Wilmslow High School

Wilmslow High School reached the last eight of the Daily Mail U18 Cup with an extremely efficient 15 to 3 win over Woodhouse Grove. Wilmslow were welcomed in Bradford by a howling gale blowing up the pitch, wintry squalls and muddy conditions underfoot. Given these conditions, both teams looked to their forwards to win the game.

A relatively young side, The Grove are the only team to have beaten the High School this season and they will have their day, but this was not it. Their forwards ultimately lacked the precision, the ability to make the breaks and the hard yards.

Rather like one of those machines that dug the channel tunnel, the High School pack drove inexorably forward. This unstoppable force had 8 individual, but completely complimentary drill heads working as one, progress was often slow but supremely effective.

Playing with the wind in the first half, Wilmslow scored twice within the first quarter. The first a classical backs move, completely alien to this game but finished with some finesse in the corner by full back Sam Broster. Inevitably the ball had been won by the forwards, and they did so again moments later. As the crowd waited for another backs move, No 8 Simon Green surprised everyone to score from 10 yards. From this point The Grove dug deep and Wilmslow, who hadn't played a game in 6 weeks, didn't quite keep the focus to put more points on the board. In fact a penalty conceded, gave the home team some hope going into the second half.

A lead of 7 points was less than required given the visitors now faced the wind. Coach Bebbington however read the riot act, and his pack from this point on, resolutely controlled the rest of the match.

There was only one more score, again in the corner, again scored by a forward. Hooker Tom Fantom had stolen ball, both in the rucks and in the scrum throughout the game and richly deserved his try from a forwards move that started at the halfway line.

In a post-match assessment Bebbington expressed delight that his team had only conceded one try in 5 cup games, and that his forwards had once again proved to be an irresistible force who could win games when the situation required it. Last year in this competition the High School reached the semi-final losing to the eventual winners. They are undoubtedly looking to go one better this year, but will first of all need to beat Kings Worcester in the quarter finals.

This is a member post by Mike Harding.

Tags:
Daily Mail Rugby Cup, Rugby, Wilmslow High School
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Comments

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Neil Sainthouse
Monday 30th January 2012 at 7:52 pm
Excellent match report Jim, loved the drilling analogy.